July 30 - August 2, 2026
ODC Theater
3153 17th St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
Savor the richness of summer with a taste of ODC/Dance. Catch the celebrated return of ODC Fellow KT Nelson’s “surreal and compassionate” Nothing's Gonna Make Sense (Reflections on Grief), Co-Artistic Director Mia J. Chong’s world premiere in collaboration with EIGHT/MOVES, and Guest Choreographer Catherine Galasso’s world premiere, UNRELIABLE NARRATOR, drawn from the lives and artistry of ODC’s founding women, Brenda Way, Kimi Okada and KT Nelson, featuring candid interviews with each alongside rare stage appearances.
"This is such a crucial time in the arts to think differently and to approach work in subversive ways.” - Gypsy Snider
ODC is offering a group discount of 10% off orders of 4+ tickets. Use code ODC10 at checkout. For groups of 8+ use code SSGROUP8 for 50% off tickets. Priority seating is available for Supporter Level Ticket holders starting 30 minutes prior to each performance (general seating opens 15 minutes prior to the performance). Supporter Level ticket holders also receive a free drink when they present their ticket at concessions!
About the Work
- Nothing's Gonna Make Sense (Reflections on Grief) Choreography by KT Nelson
Nothing's Gonna Make Sense (Reflections on Grief) reflects on Nelson’s experience of the sudden death of her husband, an event that significantly altered her sense of reality. The work invites you to (experience -or accept- the unknown) hang out in the unknown? and not panic.
“bravely weird, risky, simultaneously masterful and uncontrolled” - San Francisco Chronicle
KT NELSON (ODC Fellow) joined ODC/Dance in 1976 and partnered with Brenda Way in directing the ODC/Dance Company until 2020. KT choreographed the Company’s first full-length family ballet in 1986, The Velveteen Rabbit. The production has become a holiday tradition in the Bay Area engaging generations of dance goers.
KT has been awarded the Isadora Duncan Dance Award four times: in 1987 for Outstanding Performance, in 1996 and 2012 for Outstanding Choreography, and in 2001 for Sustained Achievement. Her collaborators have included Bobby McFerrin, Geoff Hoyle, Amy Seiwert, Shinichi Iova-Koga, Kate Weare, Zap Mama, and Joan Jeanrenaud. Her work RingRounRozi, in collaboration with French-Canadian composer Linda Bouchard, was selected to be performed at the Tanzmesse International Dance Festival. boulders and bones, in collaboration with Brenda Way, was part of BAM’s Next Wave Festival. Her One Long Breath collaboration with Na Hoon Park was selected for the MODAFE festival in Seoul, Korea. Path of Miracles, created in collaboration with the Volti Vocal Ensemble, is her third evening-length work and has toured across the country.
In 1996, Nelson founded the ODC Dance Jam (ages 6-13). As ODC’s first director of Educational Outreach, Nelson did extensive community work including partnerships with the Kohler Arts Center, University of Florida at Gainesville, Everett Middle School, San Francisco Mime Troupe, San Francisco’s Writers Union, Thunder Road Drug Rehabilitation and more. From 2004 to 2007, she ran the dance department for the summer program Center for Creative Youth at Wesleyan University. She has mentored with the Margaret Jenkin’s Chime Project, co-founded RoundAntennae and continues to mentor emerging artists in the Bay Area and abroad.
- Notes of Disquiet (world premiere) Choreography by Mia J. Chong
A world premiere from Mia J. Chong features a collaborative ensemble of dancers from EIGHT/MOVES and ODC/Dance. The work examines how shared internal states, often held but not spoken, can transform through care, resilience, and collective healing.
MIA J. CHONG (Co-Artistic Director) was born and raised in San Francisco, where she began her dance training at the ODC School at age 5. Mia danced with Robert Moses’ Kin and Dance Theatre of San Francisco before joining ODC/Dance, where she performed for six seasons and received a Princess Grace Award and Chris Hellman Dance Honor for her work as a company dancer. She returned to the company as Staging Director in 2024, where she has collaborated with Brenda Way and KT Nelson on numerous restagings and reimaginations of ODC/Dance repertory and assisted guest choreographer Sidra Bell in creating new work.
Mia was the founding Artistic Director of EIGHT/MOVES, a contemporary dance company dedicated to creating unity through movement and utilizing dance to generate cultural and social
change. Through EIGHT/MOVES, she has collaborated with Rena Butler, Keerati Jinakunwiphat, KT Nelson, RJ Muna, and Sidney Chen. Mia’s choreography has been presented by Post:ballet, FACT/SF, RAWdance, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, UC Berkeley, Gonzaga University, BODYSONNET, and more. Her choreography for film has been selected and screened by more than ten festivals around the world, reaching audiences in South Korea, England, Turkey, and Italy. Mia has also received a Jacob’s Pillow Hicks Choreography Fellowship, Aninstantia Grant, Zellerbach Community Arts Grant, Alonzo King LINES Ballet Homer Avila Award, and Metro Film and Arts Foundation Grant, among other honors. She earned a BA in Social Sciences with a concentration in Organizational Behavior and Change from New York University and an MS in Arts Administration and Cultural Entrepreneurship from Northeastern University. Mia is grateful for the constant support from Brenda, KT, Kimi, and the countless other mentors she’s found through the ODC community throughout her journey, and she is excited to premiere her first work on ODC/Dance at Summer Sampler this July. - UNRELIABLE NARRATOR Choreography by Catherine Galasso
UNRELIABLE NARRATOR combines documentary theater with contemporary dance to create a singular performance about three monumental dance artists: ODC Founding Artistic Director Brenda Way and Co-Founding original collective members Kimi Okada and KT Nelson. The “ODC Three” participate in the work as dancers and as subjects. The soundtrack for the work includes audio interviews Galasso conducted with the three, interwoven with an original score by her longtime composer collaborator Dave Cerf. ODC/Dance Company dancers frame the power trio and center them as protagonists, creating a visual backdrop for the anecdotes we hear. Incorporating a sense of humor that keeps the work from becoming didactic or sentimental, UNRELIABLE NARRATOR acknowledges that this is hardly the whole story.
For 20 years, Catherine Galasso has been creating original dances for apple orchards, bank vaults, churches and opera houses. Her style is rooted in postmodern abstraction, contrasting historical nods with a pop sensibility that is playfully self-aware. Her works grant equal influence to light, sound, and space, embracing a collaborative approach that values intuition and co-authorship. She has been commissioned by Danspace Project, River To River Festival, Arts Brookfield, ODC, and the Kohler Arts Center, a.o. and her work about the Lumière Brothers was featured in the Oxford Handbook of Screendance Studies. Galasso’s 2015 collaboration with choreographer Andy de Groat was nominated for a ‘Bessie’ and her 2018 Alone Together was awarded a San Francisco ‘Izzie.’ As a choreographer for opera and theater, her 2026 projects include Meat Suit (with director Aya Ogawa, 2nd Stage, NYC), Dialogues des Carmelites (with Tiphaine Raffier, Opera de Nancy-Lorraine), and Die ägyptische Helena (with Christian Räth at Bard SummerScape). Galasso attended an art high school in Venice, Italy, and received a BA in Film from Cornell University, NY. She lives in New York and Venice, with filmmaker Sam Green and son Atlas. www.catherinegalasso.org
- ODC/Dancers
Pre-Show Artist Talk & Closing Reception Hosted by EIGHT/MOVES
Sunday, August 2, 2026
Pre-Show Artist Talk: Lobby doors open 60 minutes before showtime.
Closing Reception: Please stay with us after Sunday’s performance for a free reception hosted by EIGHT/MOVES. Creating space for artists and audiences to gather is an essential part of EIGHT/MOVES, and this special collaboration offers an especially meaningful opportunity to celebrate Mia J. Chong’s world premiere and deepen the connections between our communities.
Summer Sampler Digital Encore
Available mid-August
Watch up-close captures alongside behind-the-scenes interviews with the choreographers.
Summer Sampler Partners
About ODC/Dance
Founded in 1971 by Artistic Director Brenda Way, ODC/Dance was one of the first American companies to incorporate a post-modern sensibility (an appreciation for pedestrian movement) into a virtuosic contemporary dance technique and to commit major resources to interdisciplinary collaboration and musical commissions for the repertory.
Arts Access Tickets
ODC offers a limited number of free and/or lower-cost Art Access tickets to every ODC presented performance. For most performances in B. Way Theater, twenty tickets are allocated to the Arts Access tiers. These additionally subsidized tickets, available on a first-come, first-serve basis, are reserved for those for whom price is a barrier. Please contact boxoffice@odc.dance if you or your organization is interested in underwriting the cost of additional Arts Access tickets.
